Women and Pornography

Porn has become a something of a sub-cultural all in itself. From the innumerable websites hosting anything from videos to pictures to webcams, it is a virtual treasure trove of intertwined bodies. Society has deemed porn a “man” vice, used only by men to obtain orgasm. It has recently come to light that the excessive use of pornography as stimulation may have some negative side effects. What isn’t much talked about is the use of pornography by women.

Women are becoming more open in this modern day world and more and more of them are admitting to watching pornography. Many women are admitting to using porn for various reasons. Amongst these reasons are:

Curiosity

Searching for sexual positions

Looking at the attractive men

Comparing our bodies to those of the female actors

Women, it seems, are just as likely to watch porn as men. While women may be more covert than men in their habits of pornography watching, it does still occur. And from many studies that have been recently released it happens more often than one might think. A 2010 Forbes story delved into the SEC where 17 members had been found with large quantities of porn downloaded onto their hard drives. 16 of these members were found to be men, but 1 of them was a woman. Upon searching her hard drive it was found that she had attempted to access pornography a total of 1,800 times in the span of 2 weeks. It was also mentioned that she had 600 images saved to her hard drive. Many men can attest to having that amount of porn on their computers, but for a woman to have been found with that amount is almost unheard of in today’s media.

Society has made women feel that they cannot express their sexuality and in turn makes them feel like they have to hide it or risk being called derogatory names. Women are seeking a release and turning to pornography seems to be the go to source. It can be done in the privacy of your own home without the judgmental society outside peeking in through the closed blind slats. Women can feel empowered again by taking control of their own sexual prowess.

The society of today has changed greatly since the society of the 1940’s and 1960’s. There used to be a time when a woman showing their ankle was considered far too risky. Kisses on television were limited to 3 seconds. Bathing suits had to fit a certain way and cover a certain amount of skin. The television of yesteryear is precisely that, it has been replaced with shows of women clothed in skimpy dresses and bikinis. You can’t even see a car commercial without seeing a sexy woman in a sleek, skin tight dress carefully removing herself from the car oh so gracefully. Women and pornography have a long way since the days of covered ankles. We have paved a bumpy road for future generations of women to speak out and say “Yes, I am a woman, and yes I have sexuality.” The days of burning bras has come and passed and we have now moved on to burning bridges of female sexuality.

I disagree with Henry.
While this post cites only one study that gave a ratio of 16:1, how accurate can it be? One study does not make something a fact. It takes repeated studies with multiple controls and variables in order for someone to definitively say, Women like porn too.

On the other hand though, I’m a girl. I watch porn and most of my friends, who are also girls, watch porn too. And not just a brief dip into the world of internet porn either. Avid watchers. From my own personal experiences and those of my friends, I hold the opinion that women are JUST AS LIKELY to watch porn and to masturbate to porn as men.

I believe that the only difference is that society doesn’t really point out that women are just as likely to masturbate as men because as females, they can “get some” from any guy they want. And women aren’t eager to speak out against this belief because of the tendency for women to be labeled as ‘sluts’ or ‘whores’ if their sexuality is outside of the normal bounds.

And maybe from your experience Henry, it may be a reasonable conclusion that women don’t like porn because that’s only YOUR viewpoint. No one can dispute your experiences and you are welcome to hold this opinion as it is what’s true in your world. But obviously, no one is the same.

I am sure that not all women enjoy porn. Just as i’m willing to say that not all men enjoy porn either. But just because that one group of women do not like porn, it does not act as an overarching rule that masturbating or watching porn is singularly a male activity.

I am a woman and I watch porn. Actually, I mostly prefer reading erotic storys (explicit ones!) to visual porn, but still I use it. And I know many women who do like porn.
I’m from Germany btw, so maybe there’s a cultural difference as it seems not SUCH a big taboo in our culture to talk about sexuality and women admitting that they take what they want….

As a woman, I’m often frustrated by how little attention women get in the porn addiction conversation. Even this post isn’t very helpful for those of us struggling. People are barely willing to admit that women watch porn, much less that we could be addicted to it.
In my opinion, even if women don’t use porn as much, we are MORE likely to form an addiction to it. Men have an orgasm nearly every time they have sex, so, while porn is still more enticing that an actual partner, the “rewiring” of the brain to prefer porn should happen at a slower rate. Whereas heterosexual women just don’t get a chance to orgasm as much as their male partners. Ask any sexually active, heterosexual woman you know if she finishes as much as her partners. Sorry guys, but we fake it.
So for hetero women, it quickly becomes a choice of having an orgasm with porn or not finishing at all with a man. Logically, the brain would start to prefer porn very quickly.

I’m sorry Kate but I had to laugh at your comment about women faking orgasms with men. Most women wouldn’t know how to fake an orgasm if they tried and you can’t fake involuntary muscle contractions and spontaneous female ejaculation, with or without a build up.

“Not finishing at all with a man” Why can’t you finish with a man? Either he isn’t going down on you properly, he isn’t a good lover or you won’t allow yourself to get their in your mind. If man after man is unable to get you off, it seems likely you have poor choice in sexual partners or there is some mental block preventing you from relaxing to that point with these men.

Oh yeah Keith? Women just kegel to fake the muscle contractions its easily done and we breathe heavier, squeeze our butt cheeks together, and pull our legs closer together which is what happens in an actual orgasm when i do have one. Faking it convincingly is 100% possible. And most women don’t ejaculate so faking that would be unnecessary. I love hearing men tell women what they can and can’t do haha. I’ll bet at least one women you’ve been with has faked it one time or another and you’d never know the difference.

I have to agree with Julia! I am a woman and was searching this website because I myself watch porn and imagine myself as the woman in the scene. From other woman I know, I would say the ratio should not be 16:1 more like 16:10

Hi, i’m a porno-addict trying to get away with this. I’m not good with english so I look for some spanish spoken forum. However, i’ll try to participate in english too.I strongly need to leave this in order to save my couple and myself, not for moral but for it is uncontrollable.

I agree with Henry to some degree. I do know of some women who are into porn, and watch it for there own sexual interest and gratification, but only a very small number….and more who are maybe a bit younger than my main group of friends. Although I do not begin to guess a ratio. I am a woman and of virtually all of my women friends, only one is open to porn. She feels that it is okay for her and her husband to watch together, but that is the only way she would be okay with it in her relationship. For myself, I despise porn and always have. I am unable to watch porn with any man, but I have fallen deeply in love with a man who is porn addicted. It is effecting our sex life. Because his sexual interests lie in Femdom, I have started watching porn online to attempt to provide him with what he wants in bed. I have also borrowed quite a lot of porn clips from him (which are on my computer), although it is kind of hard for me to watch – and most of which I have not even seen. I find some of it to be extremely disturbing. It has caused my life to be seemingly filled with disturbing imagery and feelings of self dislike. As a woman. I notice it has started to shape what I think about when thinking of sex. And even seemingly changing what I might find arousing in some instances. It has also had some other weird side effects. Since noticing I have been avoiding it, especially as it makes me really unhappy with my relationship. I am a scientist so I have become curious and have been doing some research which has led me here.

Christi thank you for shedding light from a woman’s point of view on what is becoming a growing trend for women today. A woman’s message can make the greatest difference for the younger generations not knowing and understanding the harmful effects of addiction and all the valuable time it takes away.

I think it is very fascinating reading about women and how they feel about porn and erotic stories, I write erotic stories and believe there is nothing wrong with it. I just love to find out more and more about the female mind and feelings, especially towards sex and porn, even self gratification

I really feel like porn is something every woman loves beacuse I just love masturbating and seeing milfs it gives me so much pleasutre to watch porn and its completely healthy because im depressed and i need the dopamine